Businesses may have plenty to gain from trading in mobiles

Firms that trade in mobile phones in favour of tablet devices may have plenty to gain, as they join a growing trend.

Research by Techaisle in the US found some 8.87 million tablets are now in use by small and medium-sized businesses in the country.

Among the most frequent users of such technology are those in the healthcare and financial sectors, with the iPad said to be the favoured choice of product.

Indeed, the Apple device dominates the market of small companies, although Android is making inroads into the larger-sized firms category.

The study also concluded 71 per cent of organisation use tablets as an addition to their existing set-up, rather than in the place of other computers, perhaps illustrating it is possible to combine the two.

Nitin Bhas, writing for theJuniper Research blog, recently described the iPad 2 – which was released in California last month – as "great" and powerful.